DESPITE EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY, we are not big fans of cruises. We generally take them as alternative transportation to flying or in order to reach out-of-the-way islands. Nevertheless, we’re off again, this time from San Francisco to Sydney on the Grand Princess, 25-days with stops in Hawaii, Tahiti, American Samoa and New Zealand. The cost is just a bit more than one-way economy airfare for the two of us and actually LESS than a single business-class ticket.
SF Skyline
Quintessentially San Francisco
But it’s possible we been on too many cruises! When the fire alarm in our hotel sounded at midnight—false alarm—John thought it was the emergency siren on the ship and wanted to turn on the TV so we could follow directions from the captain. Connie won’t let him forget this one for a while!
Passing Alcatraz
Sailing against the Wind on SF Bay
Tuesday morning we Uber-ed from our hotel to the pier and walked right onto the ship with our luggage right to our cabin. Easy Peasy! We have sailed on Grand Princess before so it didn’t take long to orient ourselves. After lunch we went on deck to take some photos of Alcatraz and the fog-shrouded Golden Gate Bridge.
An Escort of Pelicans
Under the Golden Gate Bridge
All hands were on deck as we departed San Francisco. The wind was blowing a gale, hair was flying and clothing snapping like Old Glory in a hurricane as the ship approached the Bridge. Passengers braced themselves against the wind for photos with “selfie smiles” and the Golden Gate in the background. As we sailed under the Bridge he Captain gave the horn three blasts, the late Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” blared on the sound system and the decks quickly emptied. It promises to be a rocky ride, at least for a while, hopefully nothing like the ship’s trip from Anchorage. Two days behind us on Nieuw Amsterdam, Grand Princess encountered mal-de-mer inducing 25-foot seas and forced them to by-pass Victoria.
Ridding the Grand Princess of Sea Cooties
Underwater "Hoovering"
Our cruise itinerary had been changed even before we left Colorado. Evidently New Zealand and Australia were now afraid we would bring North American cooties to their shores. We would skip Hilo and Moorea so we could spend a day-and-a-half anchored in the haze of LA while divers scrubbed ship’s hull.
Jumping for Joy
Local observers
The work boat was already moored on the starboard side as I went to breakfast. A pod of dolphins and a pair of sea lions kept watch as a diver “Hoovered” along the hull with a sled-like scrubber. Cleaning the bottom and both sides a 1000-foot hull seemed a herculean task for a squad, let alone single divers working in shifts. Somehow they finished the task in record time and we were underway by 7:30 PM.
The captain cautioned we would encounter “moderate” seas and gale force winds during the night—four meters and 40 knots to be precise—so we put on new sea-sick patches and settled in for a week on the high seas.
